What questions or discussion points have you got for us today?Before I started using a Filofax, I tended to have a number of notebooks on the go, which unsurprisingly didn't work very well for me. I forgot which notebook I'd previously used, or one of them got mislaid which resulted in me finding it weeks later and it just wasn't very efficient. David Allen's book 'Getting Things Done' talks about what he calls ubiquitous capture, so like many people in the community, I have an inbox section at the front of my Kensington with spare paper and notes and to-dos get written down there.
However, I won't always have my Filofax with me, even when I'm at home, so I have a number of small capture tools that I often use alongside my organiser.
Left to right - PocketMod, leather jotter and tiny notebook (7cm by 10cm).
My favourite is the leather jotter that was an eBay bargain as no one else bid, so I got it for the price of postage! It's a lovely little thing made by a company called Fabriano, and takes record cards that measure 12.5cm by 7.5cm. And another stroke of luck was that my Mum-in-law had a stack of those cards that she was getting rid of, so I have lots to keep me going.
Currently, the leather jotter lives in a basket in the drawer of my bedside table, so that it's within easy reach. Once I've written anything, the idea is that any of these capture tools are small enough to just pop into my Filofax, so that I remember to process the notes. I tend to put the jotter behind the flyleaf, which keeps it in place and it's also the first thing that I see when I open it up.
In the past, when I used to work in an office, I'd also sometimes keep a spare lined insert (folded in half) in my wallet, so that worked well too for the times that I might leave my Filofax at home. I find that I benefit from more capture tools like this when I'm going through a busy time, as it helps ensure things don't fall through the cracks and also helps me feel less overwhelmed.
Do you also do this, or does everything just go into your organiser straightaway?
It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, grab a drink and make yourself comfortable for our weekly round-up.
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My youngest is currently studying for his Big Exams. He asked me if I had a notebook he could use to organise his study plans, figure out which topics he needed to spend more time working on and which ones he already knows, etc. Of course I had the perfect notebook in my stash, and he happily took it to start planning out his studying.
The next morning I asked him how it went, and found his initial enthusiasm had waned. He quickly discovered the limitations of a bound notebook. If he wanted to move a page from one category to another (for example, after he had mastered a topic he would move that page from Need to Study to Complete), he couldn't. He also realised he had to plan every page of the notebook in advance, decide how many pages each subject would get, etc. His plan broke down.
I offered him a ring binder with tabbed dividers, tape flags, and repositionable sticky tabs, and it was just the thing he needed. Each subject had its own tabbed section. Within each section, he could designate pages for what he needed to spend more time on and what he already knew, and could move pages around accordingly. The tape flags allowed him to label the tabbed dividers, and then move and re-label them easily. And the sticky tabs let him go directly to any section he wanted quick access to.
Which of course brings me to Filofax and other ring binder organisers. I get frustrated with bound notebooks because, what if I want more than one topic within the notebook? What if I want to move pages around? What if I end up only using a few pages, then decide I don't need an entire notebook for that purpose?
A Filofax, as my son quickly discovered with ring binders in general, gives me the ultimate in flexibility of use. I don't have to stress about where I'm going to write something. If I want to move it someplace else later, I can.
Do you like to move pages around in your Filofax, or even between binders? Or do you prefer to keep your pages in your binder in a certain order?
And as always on Fridays, feel free to discuss anything ring binder organiser related!
Thanks very much again to Paul for this tenth instalment of his wonderful guest post series. You can find all of the 'Filofhax' posts here.
Flatability's Filofax pen hack
Neil from Flatability has done it again with his latest innovation - housing a collection of pens in the body of a Filofax by utilising the often redundant credit card pockets. His hack appealed to me, as I never really used the credit card slots in my Cavendish so gave it a try, slitting the pocket fabric with a craft knife to allow the pens to fill the depth of one pocket.
So far so good, I'm not longer restricted to the two pens, I can now accommodate six or even seven within the binder rather than having to fish about in bags etc. If you're not too squeamish about cutting your Filofax; why not give it a try?
Thanks to Neil for kindly sharing another of his innovations, check out his video here.
I hope you have had a good weekend.|
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What questions or discussion points have you got for us today?Thank you to David for submitting the details of his favourite Filofax Organiser.
1. What is your favourite organiser?
A4 Durham Deluxe Leather, I had a couple of personal size faxes before this one. I had a very nice heavy black leather personal, I cant remembers the name but it had huge rings and I could fit tons of stuff into it. I still have it somewhere.
The written word has always been problematic for me as a dyslexic so at some time in the early 90’s as I was walking down the Tottenham Court Road in London I saw the Psion range of pocket computers. My first was the 3a, a wonderful thing that I could take notes with, on a proper keyboard (no touch screens then) and a diary with alarms and all the toys. This lasted quite well but eventually the hinge broke as they mostly all did so I went out and got the Psion 5mx. It was nice but a bit over complicated with an expanding keyboard, not as easy to use as the 3a buttons. A fault on these was the ribbon cable connecting the screen would crack and then that was that.
I went back to my Filofax personal with a landscape week to view diary and to take notes I flipped the book around so that the rings were always on the left.
2. How long have you had it?
Since 2001 and still used almost daily.
3. What is it that you like about it so much?
The A4 Durham was a gift from my mother, I worked in various jobs in the voluntary and charity sector from youth work, family support, advice, after school projects and centre and building management. All of this requires a lot of record keeping, accounts and client notes. Things that although my writing was awful was very difficult to keep on a computer so paper was the only way. It was the only thing that was portable and as it had no internet connection, private. (In 30 years I have only found 3 people who could read my writing so it was nearly as secure as a book code)
The personal size was easy to update, did not need batteries or break when things fell off but it used its own size of paper, was difficult to photocopy as a backup and most of all you needed lots of other folders, bags and envelopes to keep all the stuff together.
The A4 was a complete change, not only did I have enough space to keep a proper diary with the 5 distinct sections (client/building/account/personal/stuff) plus info on the person I was carer for but i was also able to print off my own topic specific papers. Add a cheep 4 hole punch and I could put anything I wanted in it. Even through job changes its nice to be able to use the same fax with minor changes to the interior.
I loved that when sitting in meetings the topic of dates and bookings came up all of us analogue, paper diary people could work out dates and times faster than the e-organiser people, at that time it was palm pilots and now google calenders and ios stuff. With a paper year planner working out the dates for meeting on the third Thursday every month is so much simpler. (no doubt an unhealthy level of inverted snobbery)
If I have to write fast or for a long time the dyslexia will pop up and kick you in the head so a simple answer was to have a selection of pens, different body thickness and weights and to use fountain pens. It had been suggested that I use T-Line short hand so have been learning that, it’s made a world of difference, I would recommend anyone who struggles to learn a shorthand.
One of the greatest benefits has been nothing really to do with Filofax but hand written stuff in general. There have been many cases when colleagues have had their phone, e-organiser or tablet stolen but no one touches a paper book even when wrapped in expensive leather.
4. Do you use it all the time?
I do use it all the time and have done since 2001. This was through several jobs, being a carer where you have to admin that persons appointments and health care as well as acting as account book and journal of an amateur radio club I am treasurer for.
The diary I use now is the week to view printed from the Philofaxy site and each year all the pagers are covered and the 4 holes are used for a Japanese stab binding and are kept for ever.
All other sections are job, client or industry specific so I print them myself and the dividers are a simple multicoloured plastic 10 section that also serve as a storage space for stickers I acquire on my visits.
5. Do you think the design could be improved?
The improvements would be to fix the zip that broke in the first couple of years, I have had a spare in the draw for about ten years now but never got round to doing it. But from a Filofax point of view, the inside of the covers had a nasty plastic coating, over the years this has flaked away leaving the dark grey fibreboard visible looking a bit tatty.
I have looked at the A5 and in the past my mum had a couple of Deskfax folders but in the end the easy of use, the ability to print all my own papers make the size and not considerable weight worth it. It is a shame that Filofax do not make the Durham any more as I would get another.
David.
It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, grab a drink and make yourself comfortable for our weekly round-up.|
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My husband is an excellent cook, but I admit that I'm not that confident or experienced when compared to him. So, I've decided this year to start trying out some simple recipes to help improve this. Last night, I made roast cauliflower and lemon gnocchi bake, which was super yummy and very easy to cook! It felt like a great start and I was delighted with the result, so I'm going to start keeping a list of the recipes that I make (under R in my A to Z section) with a note of where I found it and maybe a simple scoring system, so that I can choose my favourites at some point. I tend to just use lined or plain paper for most things, but if you prefer printed pages, you can find recipe or meal planner inerts on the Files page.
Do you keep recipe or meal planner pages in your organiser?
And as always on Fridays, please feel free to discuss anything organiser related. I hope that you have a great weekend.
You can only keep one Filofax and one pen, which Filofax will it be and which pen?
Tell us in the comments which size and model of Filofax you would keep and which pen and what type would it be you would use?
I hope you have had a good weekend.|
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What questions or discussion points have you got for us today?
It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, grab a drink and make yourself comfortable for our weekly round-up.|
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I recently had a need to share some data with people that I had on a simple spreadsheet. I could of course shared the spreadsheet, but not everyone has Excel on their computer, a lot of people only have a mobile phone these days.
I could have approached someone else to create an app I guess, but that potentially would lead to cost and because it was part of one of my voluntary jobs I decided to keep things in-house.
I came up with a simple solution a set of tables like a ready-reckoner, easy to use, easy to share and the resulting calculations from the figures would be accurate enough for the purposes intended.
When I shared the results with the rest of the committee, they were surprised at the simplicity of the presentation and how it has solved a problem. Of course I've made the tables suitable for putting in to my organiser as well!
As we approach another weekend please feel free to discuss anything organiser related.
I hope you have had a good weekend.|
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